Written for the Four Houses Competition, for the following prompts: James Potter / Lily Potter / Minerva McGonagall / Molly Weasley / Arthur Weasley / Sirius Black / Sirius/Lily / Lion / Animagus / Gemino / Evanesco
Also written for the Vocabulary Challenge, for the prompt: "Concilliabule, n. – a secret meeting of people who are hatching a plot."
Also written for the All About You Challenge – Write about someone bemoaning the single life.
AN: I took liberties with the Department of Ministries a little. I mean, JKR's descriptions don't actually form a coherent map anyway, as there are inconsistencies, so I guessed it was likely up to interpretation.
Summary: Hoping beyond hope that if they heard the prophecy again, if they could analyse it word for word, they would be able to decipher a get-out clause, a loophole, Sirius, James and Lily set off on a mission.
Word count: 2,199
One Man's Happiness Is Another Man's Misery
The beech wood of the table and whiteness of the walls was at a stark contrast to the tone of the conversation. Lily Potter kept an ear trained on the open door out of the kitchen even as she listened to the conversation. These types of concilliabules were not uncommon, not at the heart of the war, when people strove to keep secrets from their friends as much as their enemies.
"We need to hear the original prophecy," Minerva announced, her face as stern and strict as the tight, neat bun on her head.
"Agreed," Sirius announced, his face lacking its usual grin. He was worried; it was visible in the creases between his eyebrows across his forehead.
"So, what do we do? Go to the Department of Mysteries?" Lily asked, searching the eyes of the attendees for an answer.
"Don't think we have a choice," her husband, James, replied from her right, squeezing her hand where he held it under the table.
"No, it seems that's the best solution," Minerva replied, even as her own forehead wrinkled in worry for those around her, the adults that had once been her students.
"So, who should go?" Arthur asked, running a hand through his ginger hair as he turned to his wife, eyeing her swollen belly, thinking of the children they already had at home. "I think we can count Molly out," he said, half of him thinking it a fact while the other half begged his wife for confirmation.
Molly shook her head with a small smile, her motherly instincts overruling the loyalty she felt to the Order of the Phoenix.
"I think Lily's out, too," James said, avoiding his wife's eye.
"Hold on a minute," Lily immediately jumped to her defence. "Would you know how to get past a locked door without a lock without blasting it to smithereens? Would you be able to break through a wall of fire without the smell of burning hair or clothes alerting someone to your presence? Merlin knows what they've got in the Department of Mysteries, you need my skill," she argued. She was not often one for boasting, but when it was a matter of her pride on the line, her stubbornness stopped for nothing.
"She has a point," Sirius sighed, as if he didn't like to admit it, either.
"Arthur, I think you're too close to the Ministry. Sirius and James are junior Aurors; they could over look this. But you're an established part of the organisation now. I think this would be too dangerous for you," Minerva advised, and the five of them could not argue. In Dumbledore's absence at the meeting, in the Potter's back room, the executive decisions and chairing of events had fallen to McGonagall, a decision no one argued. She was loyal and just, but analytical and attentive. She managed well.
"So, we're agreed it will be Sirius, Lily and James, then?" Molly summarised.
"Yes, although one of them will need to stand guard. Perhaps Sirius or James?" Arthur suggested.
Sirius and James turned to look at each other, engaging in a silent conversation, as if they shared knowledge that was secret.
"James will keep look-out," Sirius announced, and the group nodded, content.
Harry had woken up not long after they left, and Lily had headed upstairs to nurse her son back to sleep. Once James had finished washing the pots, he joined them, sitting next to Lily on the low settee they'd bought for the nursery, for this exact purpose.
"Be careful in there, okay?" James said, worrying for his wife, the love of his life, before she was even in danger.
"James, I'll be fine. You know that. And even if I'm not, I'll be with Sirius, who's practically my brother-in-law, and you'll be right outside," she reasoned, knowing she needed no protection but also knowing that the thought of it would comfort him.
"If you so," he said, looking down at their son.
"I do. Can I ask you something?" she began, and James looked up at her. "What makes a deer any safer than a dog?"
Lily had cottoned on to the strange exchange the pair had had, and realised the decision had been based on their Animagus forms.
"A dog could belong to someone, it could be a spy, or anything. But a stag stood outside of the Department of Mysteries? It must have escaped," he shrugged. Lily nodded, understanding the reasoning. Deer don't belong to people very often.
Sirius, James and Lily made their way through the Ministry at midnight. James and Lily huddled together awkwardly under the Invisibility Cloak while Sirius relied on a Disillusionment Charm. As they made their way, as silently as they could, down the long dark corridor of Level 9, the time for them to part drew ever nearer.
James slipped into his Animagus form and Lily took the cloak, hoping it all went to plan.
The revolving doors had been their first challenge. Sirius, ever courageous, stepped forward and immediately opened the first door her reached. He was met face to face with a fully grown lion, yawning at them as it cast a lazy eye around its new surroundings. Sirius shut the door as quickly as he could.
"I don't think it's this one," he said, and Lily smiled. That quickly faded, however, when the walls began to spin. It took them a while to work out the conundrum, until Lily screamed out a rhetorical question in her frustration. She had felt quite proud of herself when the doors had answered her, and their way out gave itself up to them.
They were in a long, thin room, full of suspended brains, when, after Lily's stern warning not to touch anything, just in case, Sirius turned to her.
"Are you happy with James?" he asked, out of the blue, and Lily was taken aback for a moment.
"Of course I am," she answered.
He said nothing, looking at the doors around them. "Let's go this way," he suggested, pointing at a door to their right.
Lily followed, eyeing him curiously. They entered a room larger than the Great Hall at Hogwarts and were momentarily taken aback. It was large, like a theatre in the way the stone benches seemed to descend to a central dais where a strange archway stood. The room was musty and dark, making a shiver run up Lily's spine.
"Come on," Sirius noted, leading them around the edge of the room.
After a few moments had passed, Lily couldn't shake Sirius' question from her mind.
"Why did you ask me that?" she queried.
"No reason," he replied.
"Sure, okay."
Sirius sighed. "You're too smart for your own good," he replied.
"Well, you've been off for a while," Lily noted with a shrug.
"No, I haven't," he defended.
"Yes, you have," she argued back.
The pair fell into silence as Lily waited for him to reply, and when an answer wasn't forthcoming, she stopped still.
"Lily, this is hardly the place for this, we could be caught," he argued when he saw her stood there. "We have a job to do."
"Talk to me," she told him.
"No. It doesn't matter and it doesn't make a difference," he snapped.
"There's definitely something up."
Sirius stared at her, his muscles tensing as if he was having an argument in his head. Lily said nothing, knowing that she would wear him down sooner or later.
"Do you remember that forfeit I had to do in seventh year, when I told you I loved you?" he asked.
Lily smiled at the memory. She'd wanted to kill him for it at the time, announcing his undying love for her in the middle of dinner in front of the whole school. But it had been a joke, and the attention had soon died down. Sirius looked away from her smile, as if he didn't want to see it.
"I remember," she told him. "But I don't see the relevance."
"I remember the way you burst out laughing, because you thought it was so absurd. I remember that because it hurt like hell. I was telling the truth, Lily," he told her.
Her face paled in shock as she attempted to think of a reply. She stood there, her lower jaw flailing up and down with words that ran to the tip of her tongue just to die there – none of them strong enough, good enough, for that moment. She pulled her mouth closed and set her face hard. This wasn't the moment. It couldn't be the moment – it was too absurd. Their lives were in danger, they had a job to do and her husband was close by.
"I hate being single, you know. I hate waking up every morning alone, crawling into a cold bed at night. I hate not being able to share things with someone. Not having a warm shoulder to lie my head on. But I can't have relationships. I've tried. They all pale in comparison to you," he told her, continuing his explanation, causing tears to form in her eyes. She set her face hard: she couldn't deal with this right now.
"We need to keep moving," she said, and began to walk past. She couldn't even look at him.
"Wait," he called out, causing her to stop and turn to face him. She stared past him, unable to meet his eye. He pulled something from his pocket, an old crumpled letter, and held it up for her to see her name on the envelope. "Tell me you love him. Tell me you don't want for anything with him around. Tell me you could never love me, and it'll be like it never happened." His voice broke over the words as if every ounce of his strength was poured into keeping his face stoic.
"I love him. I'll always love him. I'm sorry," Lily whispered as tears came to her eyes. Lily had followed her heart, as she always had, and she had never mean to hurt anyone.
"Evanesco," he said, and the letter disintegrated, as if it had never existed. He didn't say what the letter contained, but if he was telling the truth, Lily could guess. She didn't want to know when he wrote it, or how long he'd kept it. Did he always carry it with him? No, it would be too painful.
"But you still feel it," she argued, weakly.
"Every day. But I want you to be happy," he said, before turning to walk on.
The air was tense between them as they journeyed, as if the knowledge they now shared changed everything. Maybe it did. But they carried on, throwing themselves into the task at hand: they had no other choice, after all.
Once in the Prophecy Room, they realised how large a task it was. The far walls of the room seemed to fade into the haziness of the horizon as row upon row disappeared into the dark.
"How the hell do we find the one we're looking for?" Sirius exclaimed. Lily couldn't help but wonder what the main cause was for the frustration in his voice.
"They have to be organised somehow," Lily noted, stepping up to the shelf in front of her. "Prophet, subject, date, something."
Sirius stepped up beside her, and they soon worked out the system. It took a while, more time than they had, but they eventually found themselves standing in front of the one they wanted, on Row 97.
Lily reached out for it, and the second she touched it, fog horns began blaring as lights flashed. The prophecy had begun to play itself out, but it was impossible to hear over the sound of the horns. Lily quickly performed a Gemino charm on the prophecy, finding herself holding two identical glass orbs. Placing the copy back on the shelf, she pocketed the original and they ran.
Voices came from the distance, so they chose other paths, through different rooms. They were unable to pause to think about what they saw, to stop and examine: they ran, trying desperately not to touch anything, not to stand too close to things that may be dangerous. It was at a sharp right-hand corner that they failed. The prophecy swung around in Lily's pocket, falling very suddenly to the floor, where it smashed into fragments and shards that glinted in the light, mocking. They had no time to think, hearing the voices growing closer. After a quick curse under her breath, Lily carried on running.
Back in the room of many rotating doors, Sirius called out for an exit. When the door opened, they sprinted for their way out. Seeing the Stag suddenly revert to human form, Lily ran straight for him, throwing her arms around him.
"We lost it," she said.
"You're okay," he replied, as they clung to each other.
After a moment, Lily remembered Sirius. She suddenly stepped back, much to James' confusion, and looked fleetingly at his best friend. He was looking away.
"Let's go home," she said, looking away from both men, unsure what her future would now hold other than danger.